Crank case cleaner



Filed July 11, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l llll w 5635 (www: ff'si;

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25 z Win71@ ATTORNEYS.

A. R. www@ fl' CRANK CASE CLEANER Filed July 11. 1932 z sheets-sheet 2Iplmlllxlllurlh:

Patented Oct. 9, 1934 PATENT tol-Fics y UNITED STA-'rss My inventionrelates to improvements in crank case cleaners, and it consists of thecombinations, constructions and arrangements hereinafter described andclaimed.

6 An object of my invention is to provide a crank case cleaner whichwill renne the crank case oil sothat the oilwillbe-restored toitsoriginal purity. The deviceis designed to be used with Y an internalcombustion engine and to clean the l oil after the oil has done its workinthe engine, and then to return the cleaned oil tothe engine. 'I'hestandard oil pump on the engine is snillcient to force the oil throughthe device. The clean oil,l in returning tothe engine under pressure.conll tacts with thevarious working parts of the engine and cleans them.In time, this cleaning operation will remove all hydro-carbon, metallicsand andother abrasives from the oilsothattheoilwillbeinapurestateandalloi l0 the parts of the engine,including the crank case,

will be cleaned of impurities.

One of the advantages of the device lies in the iact that the crank caseand other working parts of the engine are cleaned -without the necessityof removing the bottom oi the crank case. The foreign matter in theengine is conveyed to the device by fthe oil, and the device retains the10reign matter. 'l'his foreignmatter may beremoved from the devicewithout the necessity of removing the device from the automobile. l

The device makes use of a number oi cells which carry a refiningcompound, and these cells may be changed yin number so as to accommodatethe device for engines having dierent quantities of oil. For example,four cells or units are used :for an automobile crank case containingeight quarts orf oil. Two additional cells would be added to the deviceto adapt it to take care of a crank case holding twelve quarts of oil. oWith this device in operation, it is not necessary to change the oilevery one thousand miles, as is now the case with engines using only anoil iilter. With theuse of the present device, only suiiicient oil wouldhave to be added so as to make up for any actual oil `loss causedbyleakage or burning.

Other objects Vand advantages will appear in the speciiicaon, and thenovel featin-es of the device will be particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a partoi this application, in which Figure 1` is a disgrammatical view showingan engine and the device operatively connected thereto;

Figure' 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the device, portions beingshown in section;

Figure 3 is afront elevation of the device;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the inside of the top cell;

Figure v5 is a plan View oi the inside of the bottom cell;

Figure 6 is a sectional view through a part of 65 the device showing theintake manifold; and

Figure 7 is a sectional view through another part of the device showingan exhaust manifold.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a bottom cell,indicatedgenerally at A,` atop cell indicated generally at B and anintermediate cell indicated general-1y at C. As many intermediate cellscan be used as is necessary to take care oi the quantity of oil to becleaned. The bottom and'top cells' are the equivalent of one inter- 75mediate cell.

It is best to ilrst describe the bottom cell, then an intermediate cellandthen the top cell. The bottom cell is shown in Figure 5, and it willybe noted that it has a base 1, with an upwardly-extending ange 2integral with the top of the base.

A bracket 3 is integral with the base and is used for supporting thedevice. l A grill 4 is surrounded by the flange 2.

The base 1 has rear openings 5 for receiving 85 holding down bolts andfront openings 6 and 7 for loosely receiving holding down bolts. Theopening 6` alsoconstitutes an intake manifold for oil, while the opening'l constitutes an exhaust manifold for the oil. The base 1 has 90 anopening 8 leading from the grill 4, and an' oilreturn pipe 9, (seeFigure3), is connected to the base l so as to communicate with the opening'.The base 1 also has an oil passageway 10 placing the opening 8 incommunication with the exhaust 95 manifold-7. An oil inlet pipe 1l, (seeFigure 3), communicates with an oil inlet passage 12 in the base l, andthe passage 12, in turn, communicates with the intake manifold 6.

0n top of the bottom cell A, I dispose an inter- 100 mediate 'cell C.AIn Figure 2, I show three intermediate cells.. Each of these cells isidentical, and, therefore, a description of one will, suilice. The cellC comprises a casting 13 having an agitating compartment 14 disposedbetween the 105 top 15 of the cell and an inwardly-extending flange 16.'I'he ilange may be of any shape de.. sired, but I have shown the angeas being Octagon in shape. The'cell C has an opening 17 normally closedby a screw plug 18. This opening gives access to the agitatorcompartment 14. A grill 19, similar to the grill 4 in the cell A, iscarried by the top 15. A flange 20, similar to the flange 2, surroundsthe grill 19. In other Words, the construction of the grill 19 and theflange 20 is identical to that of the grill 4 and the flange 2.

The top cell B has an agitating compartment 21 similar to thecompartment 14 and a fiange 22 similar to the flange 16. The cells C andB also have rear openings 5 and fronty openings 6 and '1, and when theopenings. 6 and 7 register with the same openings in the cell A, anintake and an exhaust manifold will be formed that extends throughoutthe entire height of the device, regardless of the number of sectionsused.

In Figure 6, I show how each cell B and C is provided with a dependingtubular extension 23 that forms a continuation for the intake manifold 6in the section. The tubular extension 23 is received in a circularrecess 24 in the top of the adjacent cell. A gasket 25 is placed in therecess 24, and when the two cells are clamped together by means of bolts26 and nuts 27, a continuous liquid-tight passage for the incoming oilis provided. Gaskets 28 are placed `adjacent to' the nuts 27 for closingthe top and the bottom of the intake manifold. It will therefore beVseen from this construction that oil entering the pipe 11, (see Figure3), will first fiow through the passage 12 and then will fiow upwardlyin the intake manifold 6 throughout all of the sections or cells, theoil surrounding the bolt 26. v

Each of the cells B and C has an inlet passageway 29, (see Figure 6).'I'his inlet passage conveys the oil from the intake manifold to aspreader or baille plate 30 that is inclined upwardly at a slight angle.The plate 30 is disposed in the agitator compartment v21, and similarplates are disposed in the agitator compartments 14. The oil enteringthe compartments 14 and 21 is spread out through the compartment bymeans of the baffle plate .30 which is inclined upwardly at a slightangle. The oil will enter the agitator compartments of all of thesections B and C. In this way, the oil is divided into different streamsand each stream of oil is separately purified.

In the cell or section B, I dispose a screen 31, and this screen issupported by the flange 22. On top of the screen, I place a layer offiltering com,- pound 32, such as fullers earth. Beneath the flange 22,I dispose a gasket 33, and next to the gasket, I place va refiningwafer. The Wafer is composed of a top section 34 and a bottom section 35of cloth, and between these two sections, I dispose wood pulp 36. Theedges of the pieces of cloth 34 and 35 are cemented together so as toprevent the oil from passing out laterally through the edges. Beneaththe wafer, I mount a second gasket 3'7, and this gasket rests upon thefiange 20 of the next section or cell C. Between the wafer and thescreen, I dispose a refining compound 38, such as a mixture ofdiatomaceous earth and oil.

The section C is provided with a screen 31, a fllter compound 32, arefiningcompound 38, a wafer consisting of the pieces of cloth 34 and 35and the wood pulp 36 and the gaskets 33 and 37 in the same manner as thesection B." lEach section C is provided with the same number of partsjust enumerated. In this way, each stream of oil entering the agitatorcompartments 14 or 21 is purified.

After the oil has passed from the agitator compartment 21 down throughthe refining wafer, it is received in the space 39 surrounded by theflange 20 in the cells C, or the flange 2 in the cell A. The oil isguided by the grill 19, or the grill 4 back to an outlet opening. Thisopening is shown by the reference numeral 8 in the cell A, (see Figure5), and by the reference numeral 40 in the cells C, (see Figure 7). Theoil flows through the openings 40 into the exhaust manifold '7. Thismanifold is constructed in the same manner as the manifold 6 and likereference numerals will be given. The purified oil, in passing outthrough the exhaust manifold 7, surrounds the bolt 26 in the exhaustmanifold.

This oil is then led to the outlet opening 10, (see Figures 3 and 5),and from there mixes. with the oil passing out through the opening 8.The oil then enters the return pipe 9.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, theoperation thereof may be readily understood.

In Figure 1, I have indicated an internal combustion engine 41 with acrank case 42. I have shown the device as being secured to the dashboard43. The bracket 3 of the cell A is secured to the dashboard, while abracket 44 of the top cell B is likewise secured to the dashboard. Theintermediate cells C are held in place by the bolts 26 and nuts 27. Theinlet pipe 11 leads from the crank case 42 vto the device, and thestandard oil pump 45 of the engine is used for forcing oil through theinlet pipe. The purified oil passes from the device through the returnpipe 9, and this oil is conveyed back to the'engine.

I have already stated how the oil from the crank case is divided into anumber of streams and each stream is separately purified. This isaccomplished by the oil first passing through the filtering compound 32,(see Figure 2) The pressure of the oil flowing through the pipe l1 isconstantly changing, due to the varying speeds of the engine. Thischange of pressure causes the screen 31 to fiex, and the screentherefore agitates the filtering compound 32 so as to mix the oil withthe compound. The oil isl then passed through the refining compound 38and then passes through the refining wafer beforeit reaches the grill.The oil, on reaching the grill, is purified and is cooled because thegrill spreads the oil into a thin filament. The grill also acts as acatch basin for retaining any solids that might pass through thefiltering and refining compounds. It will be noted from Figure 5 thatthe grill walls form a zig-zag passage for the refined oil. This causesthe oil to deposit any solids in the pockets formed by the staggeredpartitions rather than carry these solids back to the crank case. Theoil then finds its way to the exhaust manifold in the manner alreadystated and from the exhaust manifold, the oil passes back to the engine,through the return pipe 9.

It will be seen from this that the oil is constantly purified before itis returned to the engine. This pure oil will pick up foreign matter inthe engine and will convey this foreign matter back to the cells andthen the various compounds will remove the foreign matter from the oil.This The oil will be carried to the top of each agitator compartment andwill pass through the filtering and rening compounds by gravity. If theoiling system operates under high pressure, the device is inverted andthe pressure of the oil is utilized in forcing the oil up through thecompounds before it is led to the exhaust manifold.

Figure 3 shows a by-pass pipe 50 that connects the inlet pipe 11 withthe outlet pipe 9. A springpressed ball check valve 51 is mounted in thepipe and permits ow of oil from the pipe 11 to the pipe 9 when thepressure of the oil exceeds a predetermined point. The check valve has aspring 52 that bears against the ball valve and against a spider 53.-The spider is adjusted by the threaded rod 54 for placing the springunder the desired tension.

In practice the tension of the spring is set at about two pounds higherthan the normal pressure of the oil in the lubricating system. If nowthe cleaning device should become clogged and prevent oil from passingtherethrough, the check valve 51 would open and permit the by-passing ofthe oil. This would prevent any stoppage of the oil to the working partsof the engine and obviate any burning out of bearings and other parts.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should beunderstood that various changes or modifications may be made within thescope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

I claim:

1. In an oil purifier, a compartment, means for and designed to have allthe oil pass downwardly` therethrough, a flexible forarninous diaphragmsupporting the cleaning medium, said diaphragm being supported at itsedges of the sides of the compartment the varying pressures of oilcausing the diaphragm to fiex and to agitate the cleaning medium,whereby a more eective cleaning of the oil is accomplished as the oilpasses through the medium.

2. In an oil purifier, a compartment, means for delivering oil to thecompartment under varying pressures, an oil cleaning medium disposed inthe compartment and designed to have the oil pass therethrough, and aflexible foraminous diaphragm supporting the cleaning medium, saiddiaphragm being supported at its edges by the sides of the compartmentthe Varying pressures of oil causing the diaphragm to flex and toagitate the cleaning medium whereby a more effective cleaning of the oilis accomplished as the oil passes through the medium.

-ALBERT R. WHITE.

